Howard, Mary

From Maine, Mary is listed as coming to Montana in 1885 (Billings Gazette, July 31, 1932 List of Pioneers). Mary Howard was the first of the girls to enter Montana Territory, meeting her father Sept. 24, 1884, at Rosebud after he and a brother brought the first sizable herd of sheep into the area from Oregon. Mary's father, A. McClary Chapman Howard, and her uncle, A. D. Howard, established the 20 Ranch on the Rosebud, near Forsyth. She married Freeman Philbrick in February of 1887 in Miles City. Freeman died in Forsyth in December, 1939. Her family story is recounted in the Gazette - See Pioneer Tells of Early Ranch Days, Billings Gazette, October 12, 1952. She was President, general manager and principal stockholder of the Philbrick Land and Livestock corporation in 1952. She died in 1957. See the family story in They Came and Stayed by Rosebud County History, p. 237-239. Her husband's (Freeman) brother was Newell Philbrick, the father-in-law of Rita Philbrick, whose interview is in the Western Heritage Center collections.

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See Billings Gazette, July 31, 1932 List of Pioneers. See Pioneer Tells of Early Ranch Days, Billings Gazette, October 12, 1952. See the family story in They Came and Stayed by Rosebud County History, p. 237-239. See Rita Philbrick interview in the Western Heritage Center collections.